


The stars are falling

by Rona23



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Crowley Was Raphael Before He Fell (Good Omens), Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 18:24:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20119615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rona23/pseuds/Rona23
Summary: Everybody had secrets.The thing about secrets - is that nobody wants them unfold. Except for those whom they are kept from. The very nature of curiosity was born from the lack of knowledge.However, there are some who lack this very human trait.Such as angels. At least to those allowed to stay in heaven. If they had, maybe this story would have unfolded differently.Curiosity never killed the cat. But only, because cats weren´t invented at this point.But this story is not about a cat. It´s about a snake. And what his curiosity did to him. As well as the lack of others thereof. And the secret he accidentally kept from then on.And, as you may expect, the story begins right after the end of the world. The one that never happened.





	The stars are falling

Everybody had secrets.

The thing about secrets - is that nobody wants them unfold. Except for those whom they are kept from. The very nature of curiosity was born from the lack of knowledge.

However, there are some who lack this very human trait.

Such as angels. At least to those allowed to stay in heaven. If they had, maybe this story would have unfolded differently.

Curiosity never killed the cat. But only, because cats weren´t invented at this point.

But this story is not about a cat. It´s about a snake. And what his curiosity did to him. As well as the lack of others thereof. And the secret he accidentally kept from then on.

And, as you may expect, the story begins right after the end of the world. The one that never happened.

\------------------------  
  
HEAVEN

Hell had broken loose. Not in the literal sense. Though, admittedly, Gabriel would have preferred if it did. Angels were on the loose as well, questions were asked. It reminded him of the time before the fall.

As mentioned before, Angels were not curious by nature. But some events caused disruptions in the natural order of celestial beings. And the lack of a – well – war, was fairly high up the rankings of disruption.

To be more precise, it was less a flood of questions that made the rounds, but complaints.

All written in neat and perfect handwriting, because heaven has moved along with human technology and transferred all of them to Gabriel´s e-mail account.

And he had to answer all of them.

Try explain that you lost every control and understanding of the one job you were assigned with in one night. And explain it to everyone who works for you (10 000 angels), without causing a rant.

Again, Gabriel was reminded of what happened before the fall. And he wished, he really wished his brother was here to help.

Not Samael. Though god´s favorite, had always been a loudmouth. Quick thinking, but always rebellious. Always nagging at something. No wonder she kicked him out.

No, it was the one, the single one other Archangel that had disappeared soon after the fall. He had walked in to god´s office, right after the fall. He had promised Gabriel it wouldn´t take long. He could talk to her, he had said. Maybe make her reconsider.

Ask her why.

He had promised he would be back. And Raphael had always been convincing. Because he had always been the honest one. He was the healer, the caring one. The responsible brother.

The one with imagination and patience.

He was the one who hung up the stars and looked after them in god´s name. But when he came out, he had just shaken his head. And disappeared forever. Without any explanation.  
  
Gabriel never got the chance to ask him why. And if he had, he wouldn´d have thought of using it.

Nobody knew what happened. Some assume he was fallen. But Gabriel didn´t believe that. There were records of humans who claimed to have seen him. Who made buildings and hospitals and sculptures in his image. (Accurate one´s, too), he knew Raphael was still out there.

Why Gabriel was reminded of that specifically? Let´s just say, the angel, assigned to make the stars fall as soon as Armageddon would start, didn´t get the memo – not to do it.

And now, the sky was about to fall apart, destroying everything they needed to keep upright, until they had resolved the problem with the ineffable plan. But no one knew how to stop it.

Already under stress and pressure, because nobody really knew how the stars were made or how they worked, he knew, he had only one chance to get things in order again. He needed to find his brother. And fast. To save the board game from flipping over.

So he had only one choice to find him. Ask an angel who was named after him and was placed were Raphael hid.

\--------------------------  
  


EARTH

  
Month´s had passed since the almost-destruction. But Aziraphale wasn´t in his bookshop. Gabriel frowned as he saw the new building in it´s stead. It was some kind of supermarket. One of those designed to sell second hand wear.

Gabriel had his own designer, he didn´t need any of this.

So it took him a while to figure out where he was. But at some point, a rather nice, but weird looking woman, open minded and overly bright with joy had given him the adress. (First it was her own, though it was Thursday and she had Thursday´s off, apparently, until request corrections were made. Gabriel had recognized some low level angel energy radiating from her is why he talked to her in the first place. Though he didn´t want to know where this came from.)

The address, however, turned out to be a lovely little cottage. In, who would have guessed, Tadfield.

And Gabriel would have believed it was the wrong address. Because the garden was flourishing with the most beautiful plants in all England. The house itself looked quite old and the amount of bookshelves visible through the windows were impressive, surely, but it was the car that threw Gabriel off. Aziraphale didn´t drive. The demon, however did. Which meant, if Aziraphale was here, he was still consorting with that wily creature. Which would make him a traitor.

But Gabriel couldn´t take chances as of right now, so he knocked. Already preparing a speech to question the demon, when the missing angel himself opened the door,

Gabriel opened his mouth in irritated disapprovel, but settled on a painful smile in his direction.

“G-Gabriel?! What are YOU doing here?” Aziraphale was a relative old man with white hair, tartan clothes and a stand so uptight, you´d wonder what he was afraid of.... if Gabriel was in any way curious that is.

“I- must speak to you. It is urgent.”

  
“No offense, Gabriel. Archangel, Sir. But I really don´t think that is a good idea. You see -”  
  
“The stars are falling, Aziraphale. I´m not here for a chat or to attack you. To make matters simple. I need your help to save – the chess board.” Gabriel looked unamused. He really wanted to get this over with.

“The – what now? Oh, good lord, Come in.” Gabriel blinked at the sudden change in behavior. The suspicion turning into worry and understanding as Aziraphale invited him inside. Of course. Why hadn´t he thought of that? Of course he wouldn´t need to threaten the Principality. He wanted to keep the chess board in the first place, after all.

“Angel? Who´s that at the door?”, a voice interrupted the heavy atmosphere, as Gabriel looked around to admire the coziness of the place.

There were a lot more paintings and plants around than in Aziraphale´s last home.

A tall, lanky man, dressed in a black suit and sunglasses, walked into the room. Well, he didn´t really walk. You wouldn´t call it that. His hips moved from side to side in an exaggeration that spoke of a man who knew how to make entrances.

,Heaven for everyone´ by Queen was playing in the background, but Gabriel couldn´t work with that information. His brain (or the angel equivalent that is) still tried to repress the discomfort at the presence of the demon.

As Crowley detected their visitor, however, he froze.

“Ah, well. So you are here as well.”, Gabriel shot Aziraphale a disapproving glance.

Aziraphale´s eyes narrowed.

  
“Mind you, Gabriel, he live´s here. If you came to insult us, I have to ask you very nicely to leave. Even if the world is at stake.”

The archangel in question opened his mouth to respond, but decided not to mention it. While Crowley fidgeted nervously in his place.  
“Yes, I think I do. May we sit in your – living quarters?”, Gabriel sighed through gritted teeth.

So they moved to the next room. The living room was tall and even more bookshelves lined up the walls. On one half, so to speak. The other half was a lot less cramped. Almost empty, so to speak, except for a massive TV, a comfy black couch and some more paintings.

Not to mention the houseplants, which seemed properly terrified.

“Please, sit.”, Aziraphale demanded, and pulling out his own seat. It was tartan and cotton and looked quite comfy.

Gabriel shot the demon another suspicious glance as Crowley kept standing right next to the Principality. Leaning against the seat, mistrusting his every action.

“Why are you here?”, Aziraphale asked, looking suspicious still, but also – curious. Maybe he would have asked Gabriel if he wanted tea or something, but Gabriel had made very clear before, that he didn´t consume any kind of matter.

“Well. As it so happened – the stars are falling.”, Gabriel started with a sigh.

Aziraphale raised an eyebrow.

“What does that have to do with the end of the world?”

“We need to stop it.”

“Then do, what´s the problem?”, Crowley asked, sensing some sort of ruse here.

“The problem is, we don´t know how they work. The one who put them up is missing and we don´t have the – method´s to bring them back in place. And when they fall, earth will be destroyed. If that happens, Heaven and Hell cannot have their war. But, before you interrupt me. If we don´t stop it, humanity will be wiped out for good anyway..

So, for once, I guess, we are on the same side. In a way.”

“What makes you think we could help you?”, Aziraphale asked.

“Not the two of you, of course. You! Aziraphale. Because I was hoping you could find the missing Archangel for us. The one you were named after.”

“You were named after an archangel?”, Crowley suddenly asked incredulous.

“Yes, yes. Our mighty was disturbed when the Archangel Raphael left heaven and named a bunch of new Angels after him.  
I was chosen, because apparently, I would share some of his personal traits-”, Aziraphale explained, while the demon´s eyes were kept hidden behind his sunglasses.

“Raphael …. was she now. You never told me that.”, Crowley said, puzzled.

“I hardly think it matters to you, demon.”, Gabriel hissed (quite ironic, really.).

“Oh, you´ll find it matters quite a lot.”, Crowley muttered, but the angels ignored it.

“Anyhow. If this is about my name, than you could ask another angel.”

“No, I most definitely cannot. As we believe, Raphael is somewhere on earth, building hospitals or something like that. None of the other angels know how to navigate on earth. So, you are our only option left.”  
  


Aziraphale shifted in his seat.

“I do not think I can help with that.”

“It´s fine angel, just tell him.”, Crowley rubbed his angels shoulder reassuringly.

“You know I can´t! I don´t know where he is.”

Crowley froze. “What do you mean, you don´t know where he is?”

Aziraphale looked at him, irritated. “Why do you think I would know where he is?”

“You mean, you don´t?”, Crowley gasped.

“Of course not. Nobody knows. None of the Angels have seen him since shortly after the fall.”  
  
Crowley kept quiet after that. Stunned silence, until Gabriel coughed to disrupt the moment.

“Anyway. We need to find him. And I trust, you may have a way to find him. You had a network of humans on earth, right? You mentioned them before.”

Aziraphale shifted in his seat. “I´m afraid they were disbanded after the apocalypse. I haven´t heard of them ever since. But I guess I could search in hospitals or in history books or something. Sometimes these humans know more than they believe themselves. Maybe they do about Raphael.”

“Are you sure you would recognize him, if he stood right in front of you? It´s been millennia. Perhaps he´s changed quite a bit.”, Crowley asked, slightly sarcastic.

“Please, serpent. He´s an archangel. My own brother. Of course I would.”

“right...”

To clarify. Angels only ever referred to each other as siblings, if they were really, really close right at the beginning of their existence. And watched the other angels be created.

Moreover, sibling bonds between angels were so rare, they basically only existed between Archangels.

Which is why god´s task, to care about each creature on earth as though it was thy brother, had disturbed and confused many angels to the point that they rebelled.

And Gabriel, of all people, referring to Raphael as his brother – let´s just say it was hard to imagine.

“What about you, angel? Ever met him? Think you could recognize him?”

“Erm, no. Not really. I was always told stories about him though. That he created the stars and so on. He was said to be the kindest angel to ever exist. Nobody really knows what he´s been doing ever since the fall. Some say he´s fallen, others say it´s impossible that he fell. But nobody has really dared to ask.”

  
“You could ask now? Ask god. She´d know.”

“We cannot just go and question her!”, Gabriel exclaimed exasperated.

“Of course you could.”, Crowley huffed. “Well maybe you need to ask the right people then.”

“I don´t understand.”

“I mean, who knew Raphael, who could know what has happened to him, if neither of you do? Whom haven´t you thought of asking?”

“I don´t know.”, Gabriel admitted. Crowley sighed.

“Angels, clever, but so so stupid. Ask a demon. They were all angels before the fall. They could know.”

Gabriel blinked at that. “You think we haven´t talked to your lot yet? It was them who have questioned us of the falling of the stars and suggesting to find Raphael. They do not know where he is either. Otherwise they would not need our help. In fact, they thought he was still with us in heaven.”

At this, Crowley went weirdly still. He opened his mouth, but closed it right after.

“I know you mean well, my dear. But maybe you should leave this to us.”

“Aziraphale is right. No more questions.”, Gabriel backed him up. Oh, what a weird sight this was.

Gabriel not belittling Aziraphale, but acting as though he had always respected younger angels.

“You haven´t asked me yet, though.”, Crowley finally muttered.

“Now now, it´s enough serpent. Maybe you should leave.”, Gabriel´s tolerance seemed to be leaving him, finally.

“Maybe you really should take a break, dear.”, Aziraphale pet his shoulder in a wide and uncomfortable maneuver.

Crowley sighed. “Alright, Angel. Go and handle this by yourself then. No need for me to save the world, right.”, he joked humorlessly. No one laughed. And he left upstairs, not even turning around to look back at them.

“Now, where were we.”, Gabriel clapped his hands.

\------------------------  
  


While angels weren´t necessarily curious, it didn´t mean they never appeared to be. They did ask questions now and then. They just never expected answers. Which is the bare nature of curiosity. Angels wondered, but they never dwelled on their questions.

Aziraphale may actually be one of the few remaining angels who had.

  
“I don´t understand this. Humans think stars are giant balls of burning gas.”, Gabriel stated, listening to Aziraphale explaining an astronomy book to him.

“I mean, they are not wrong, but figuring that out from earth is quite amazing, admittedly.”

“Humans can be quite remarkable.”, Aziraphale smiled.

\-------------------  
  
  


“This picture of Raphael, I think they got his eyes wrong. These look quite damp, as though the artist couldn´t quite get them right. I remember his eyes. They were golden and bright like they had captured a star in them.”

“Is that so...”, Aziraphale noted, quite confused.

…

“This book about Raphale. I mean, they didn´t capture him as well as our angelic artists can, but it´s quite accurate. “, Gabriel added after a while, while they sat in the kitchen, rushing through every history book of Aziraphale´s wide collection.

“Yes, I´ve been wondering about this as well. Every few decades or so, another book or myth occurs around Raphael. Mostly related to healing and saving humans. According to humans he is the angel closest to humanity.

They often present him with a scepter. One of the oldest is one that apparently the few survivors of the great flood wrote.”

Then, finally, for a second, Aziraphale stopped.

“Is that a snake?”, he asked. Gabriel, who was building origami cranes earlier, because he didn´t bother reading in the first place, bowed over to him, examining the page.

  
“You´re right. It is. Reminds me a bit of Moses, though. You remember, the guy who was leading the Israelis out of Egypt. The demon Crowley casted the plaque upon the land. We would have called you to thwart him back then, but we were told that Raphael himself had been spotted back then and guided the Israelis out.”

“Oh, I think I remember some of this. I was send to bring mana to them back then during the wandering, if I recall correctly.”

“Yes, yes.”, Gabriel waved it of. 

Aziraphale stared at him for a second, lost in thought at the drawing of the weirdly familiar serpent.

Come to think of it, didn´t Crowley come up with that golden cow?

\--------------------  
  
“Raphael is considered the patron of the sick, of healers and the blind. That´s not really helpful.”, Aziraphale read out.

“Blind people. That were the humans with sticks and sunglasses, if I´m correct.”, Gabriel tried to recall.

“Yes, yes.”

“I never understood that, actually. They are blind, what do they need sunglasses for?”

Aziraphale stopped at that, lost in thought for a moment as he looked upstairs with a confused frown.

“I think, they don´t want others to see their eyes, as they often move erratically because they cannot focus on anything.”, he suggested.

Gabriel laughed in an amused manner. “So you mean, they are self conscious! Oh, how delightful would that be, if that demon upstairs had that same problem.

\------------------  
  
It went on like this for hours. At first, Aziraphale thought it was a coincidence. But the more he looked into his books, the more he was confronted with more and more familiar pictures.

  
“Pathetic!”, Gabriel exclaimed at one point. “Look how dark they painted his wings! They are almost black!”

Finally, Aziraphale, after the at least twentieth time this has happened, slammed down the book, startling Gabriel midrant.

“Don´t you dare do that again, Aziraphale! You may be exiled, but I am still your superior!”, he demanded.

“I think I have an idea.”, he muttered, louder, in a surprisingly demanding and loud voice, he called for “CROWLEY.”

Gabriel stared at him in confusion. “The demon? What about him?” His question was barely a question, really. More an annoyed form of voicing his disapproval.

“I think he may know more than we think.”, Aziraphale finally let on.

“I don´t think I could agree to that. He´s a demon. I still don´t understand why you live with him. You´ve been enemies since the beginning of time!”

“He has always been my friend.”, Aziraphale whispered and stood up. “And I think, we need to stop looking for answers and start asking the right questions.”

Gabriel still stared at him with that intense little glare he always wore, when he didn´t like an idea.

“You called?”, Crowleys voice finally echoed through the door of the living room that lead into the kitchen.

“Crowley, I have a personal question.”, he finally stated.

“I´m listening.”, Crowley leaned against the doorframe, as Aziraphale closed the distance between them, to stare directly at him.

“May I?”, he asked, but Crowley didn´t move as the glasses were taken off his eyes.

Gabriel finally stood up as well, glancing between the two rebels of their kinds, wondering whatever this might be about. And oh, look at that, he was finally showing his curiosity.

But at the sight of the yellow eyes with slits as pupils, he frowned. Perhaps he didn´t like to be reminded of these demonic traits. Then again, Beelzebub and his flies never bothered him. Maybe it was the familiarity that caught him off guard.

“How did you fall?”

“Aziraphale! We don´t have time for this!”, Gabriel exclaimed, almost throwing a fit.

“I didn´t really fall. I told you that. I sauntered vaguely downwards.”

“What does that mean.”

Crowley smiled at his angel. “It means, I saw the other angels fall for questioning why they were supposed to love humans and all creations, when mom barely showed any love to them. 

How they fell for rebelling against a toy, which purpose they didn´t understand. I hang out with Samael and his friends, trying to understand their point of view and I couldn´t help but agree.

So I went to ask mom what was going on. Why she was doing this to her own children. She gave me a choice, because she needed me to – take care of something.

I told her I didn´t want any part in something she refused to explain to me. So I left. And when I went downstairs, I felt my wings burn to ashes and everything becoming black.

The next thing I remember is Samael, asking for my name. For a while I forgot, actually. As it happened to many of us. Apparently, the later you fell, the lower your status is in hell, from where you have to work yourself up. So he called me Crawly, for I had become a venomous snake.

As I was the last one fallen, I obviously had the lowest position. That´s why I was given the task to make some trouble in eden. That enough information, angel?”

Aziraphale opened his mouth to say something, but it took him a while to find the next words.

Gabriel as well seemed a bit surprised by the surprisingly tender and soft voice of the demon who never once looked away from Aziraphale´s eyes.

“What do you know about the stars?”, Aziraphale finally continued, grabbing for Crowley´s hands in the process. 

Crowley smiled, finally. “Everything.”, he said. 

“Can you stop their falling?”

Gabriel straightened his back in irritation at the question, but decided not to intervene. A part of him wanted to assume that this demon could, but the other, stronger part wanted to smite him on the spot.

“Of course I can.”, Crowley answered, finally breaking his gaze from Aziraphale and looking to Gabriel. Gabriel frowned in return. 

“I asume, you haven´t catched up yet, have you.”, he said with a finality to his words that brought Gabriels own to shame.

\---------------------------  
SPACE  
  
  
“I cannot believe you want this demon to reattach the stars!”, Gabriel muttered under his nonexistent breath. Showing more than just discomfort. He was still desperate in trying to reach his brother, but if Crowley could fix their problem, he might as well do.

Didn´t mean Gabriel believed he could. Also, he didn´t like that the other angels (who were still trying to correct their error,) were watching as well.

They were floating in space, as stars went by them. All of them heading for earth, none of them in their usual place.

Aziraphale smiled painfully, still not knowing what to make of the information he had just gathered a few minutes ago.

The conclusion that made him wonder how much he actually knew about his best friend. Then again, he never had the chance to ask before.

And if he had, he wouldn´t have asked.

“Be quiet, Gabe. All of you!“, Crowley warned, cracking his knuckles and pulling up his sleeves. 

His black wings extended around him, wider than Aziraphale remembered them before. In a slow and defined motion, Crowley reached for the next star. Furthermore he reached out into it, ignoring the few excited whispers around him.

In a matter of seconds, Crowley extracted something from the star. It was golden and bright like stardust and maybe that´s what it was. Burning in a warm and majestic light.

And then, he set his wings on fire. 

Aziraphale gasped at the sight, as Crowleys wings, though not even touching the dust, sunddenly turned golden and bright, reaching even for his hair. 

And then, as though this wasn´t concerning enough, Crowley started to sing. And honestly, this voice was the last thing either of the angels had ever expected. 

His voice wasn´t high like that of an angel, but dark and raspy, as though it had waited for eons to come out again. And maybe it had. 

As Crowley turned towards the next star, his voice became louder. Words, only Gabriel seemed to recognize went over their heads, becoming glowing stardust.

And suddenly, the stars stopped in their tracks, listening to the tender voice of a demon, reaching for him this time. 

And as they closed on Crowley, he smiled. As though he had missed this. All of them, in a way one may miss their home. 

Then, Crowley moved, not even looking back at the angels, who stared at him in shock. A whirl of burning flames circled space, reaching for the end, the middle and the beginning of the universe and every other side there may be. 

It was a dance, and yet you couldn´t describe it as such, as Crowley set the stars to their places as though he knew where they always belonged. 

It might have taken years or hours or minutes, until Crowley finally came to a halt, the stars rearranged, and waved of the last pieces of stardust in his wings and hair, turning back to Aziraphale with a smile.

“So.”, he said, voice slightly broken from the sudden silence. “Dinner at the Ritz?”, he asked, hopefully, trying to avoid the matter at hand.

“Of course, dear.”

“You´re not mad I didn´t tell you, right?”

“Of course not, Crowley. I never asked you before now, have I?”, Aziraphale reassured him with a smile as tender and soft as <strike>Michael Sheen</strike> one can muster.

Crowley didn´t answer, as Aziraphale took his arm, ready to leave space. 

“Wait one second.”, Gabriel finally exclaimed and Crowley turned around to him.

“What is it Gabe?”, he asked, slightly unnerved at the interruption.

“How did you do that?”

“That´s the wrong question, Gabe.”, Crowley sighed. 

“Who are you?”

“I´m Crowley.”, he answered after a while, knowing Gabriel wouldn´t accept it as an answer.

“Before you fell! Who were you!” And finally, finally Crowley turned fully to him. 

“Who were you searching for.”, he answered and saw Gabriel pale. Slowly, as though he finally recognized something in the demons eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> So, as you can tell, I´ve fallen in love with Good omens and had to write something for it. Just a one shot, but I liked the idea. I surely hope you will as well.  
I was trying hard not to make Gabriel question anything, which would be slightly OOC for him anyway. But man, my stories unfold on questions that was hard. I hope I got it even remotely right.


End file.
